THE SPY SOCIETY AND DATA MINING

FACEBOOK TRACKS DATA FROM USERS WHO HAVE LOGGED OUT

'The hacker Nik Cubrilovic has revealed that Facebook collects data
from users who have logged out. Facebook confirmed but insisted the
information is only used for security purposes, aggregate statistics or
it it not logged at all, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Facebook data collection works by storing small files called
“cookies” on your computer when you visit their site. Some cookies
linger after you log out. The cookies relay information from any site
you visit that contains a link to Facebook such as a “like” button back
to Facebook. With this data, Facebook can map out your web usage.' READ MORE

SOFTWARE THAT TRACKS PEOPLE ON SOCIAL MEDIA CREATED BY DEFENSE FIRM'A multinational security firm has secretly developed software
capable of tracking people's movements and predicting future behaviour
by mining data from social networking websites.

A video obtained by the Guardian reveals how an "extreme-scale
analytics" system created by Raytheon, the world's fifth largest defence
contractor, can gather vast amounts of information about people from
websites including Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare.

Raytheon says it has not sold the software – named Riot, or Rapid Information Overlay Technology – to any clients.'READ MORE

SKYPE GOES BIG BROTHER, ALLOWING POLICE TO MONITOR TEXT CHATS

'Long sought and used as a communications tool beyond the reach of Big
Brother's probing eyes, Skype has recently announced the company plans
more cooperation with police, to include sharing of text chats.

While
surveillance of the audio and video feeds of the online phone service
remains impractical - even when courts issue warrants - that barrier,
too, could eventually be dismantled as Skype transforms into one of the
globe's premier forms of telecommunication, The Washington Post reported recently.' READ MORE

NSA WANTS "EZ PASS" CONTROL FOR INTERNET

'General Keith Alexander, the NSA boss, wants the government to
centralize the internet and force users to use a system analogous to EZ
Pass.

EZ Pass is an RFID transponder system used for toll collection on roads, bridges, and tunnels in the United States.

“What we need for cybersecurity is something analogous to that,”
Alexander told the annual Def Con computer hacking conference in Las
Vegas.. “Think of us as the EZ Pass on the highway.”' READ MORE

CALL TO GOOGLE TO WARN ABOUT "CONSPIRACY THEORY" WEBSITES

Former fellow of George Soros’ Open Society and current Stanford University scholar Evgeny Morozov has called on Google and other search engines to become thought crime enforcers, by providing warnings about websites that contain “conspiracy theories” such as the belief, held by a majority of Americans, that global warming is not primarily man-made. READ MORE

FACEBOOK TRACKS YOUR EVERY MOVE...EVEN AFTER LOGGING OUT

The social media empire Facebook has unveiled some new "features" on its platform in recent days that many allege are a total and compete privacy-breaching nightmare. But one hidden feature, discovered by Nik Cubrilovic, an Australian entrepreneur and writer, that few people are aware of is the fact that Facebook now monitors your online activity, even when you are not logged in to the service.

"Even if you are logged out, Facebook still knows and can track every page you visit," READ MORE

CARRIER IQ FOUND IN ANDROID 'PHONES...TRACKS EVERYTHING

'A data-logging software company is seeking to squash an Android developer’s critical research into its software that is secretly installed on millions of phones, but Trevor Eckhart is refusing to publicly apologize for his research and remove the company’s training manuals from his website.

Though the software is installed on millions of Android, BlackBerry and Nokia phones, Carrier IQ was virtually unknown until the 25-year-old Eckhart analyzed its workings, recently revealing that the software secretly chronicles a user’s phone experience, from its apps, battery life and texts. Some carriers prevent users who actually find the software from controlling what information is sent. READ MORE